Once Raphael had eaten his fair share of turkey, he was as pissy as ever, glancing around the house and through the windows as though we could be attacked at any minute. I mean, he wasn't wrong, but him oddly yanking open all the curtains in the house before snapping them shut was highly unnecessary.

"What's up with him?" Matilda asked, leaning close to whisper in my ear after handing out slices of red velvet cake for the table. They were  all actually getting along so well and it made my heart bound with happiness, two pieces of my world coming together.

"He's just... like that. Extremely paranoid with a permanent stick up his ass. Trust issues to a new extreme. Don't try to pity him or talk about it if you think this mood is bad. We're only at ground level." I gave her a grin before taking a plate of my cake from her hands as I sauntered around the table towards the kitchen to grab a fork.

Picking around the drawers, I found a little fork to eat my cake as I heard the door open and shut with a slam. "Fates, why the hell did you have to shove me into Rachel? I was trying to avoid her because you know she wants a piece of all this and she has herpes! Hell no, no, no! I prefer to be happy, not herpy!"

I nearly dropped my cake as I stepped into the hall headed to the door, the entire dining room now quiet. "Vulcan?" I said in astonishment as my old friend looked up to me with wide eyes and a familiar storm cloud walked through the door behind him. "Ethan?"

"Kate?" They both said in unison as I set my cake on the counter with a huge grin.

"I never thought I'd see you both again!" I rushed down the hallway, practically throwing myself at both of my friends with a laugh. "I've missed you both so much! You're both ok!"

They hugged me back with tense arms and looks of shock on their faces as I pulled back to stare them in the eyes with a wicked grin.

"I'm back, you bitches!" I extended a hand to Ethan, waiting for him to take it back. It took him a moment to register before he smiled from ear to ear, completing our special handshake with one of his signature booming laughs.

"Where the hell have you been, field mouse?" Ethan was chuckling.

"The last I saw of you was your ass about to be flattened by a falling building." Vulcan mused, "I was pretty sad about it too until I heard from Matilda that you were still kicking, and I did not receive my goodbye letter and a confession of your love for me in the mail. Our friendship and potential status as lovers is now ruined."

I rolled my eyes, "oh hush, Vulcan. I would have mailed you the letter, not the confession, if I could have."

"Do I smell cake?" Ethan's nostrils glared as his eyes widened with horror. "You did not find my chocolate cake, did you? Dammit, Kate! You've been here one fucking day and managed to find..."

"Chocolate cake?" Vulcan and I both said with interest, glancing at each other with a cruel smile as Ethan's face paled.

"No! No, you savages! It is my cake! Mine! No means no! No means no!"

"Can you please stop screaming!" Matilda scowled from down the hall, glaring at the two men. "We have guests, Kate's friends. Remember, the guardians?"

"The bird people are in our house?" Vulcan's eyes widened.

"Why does everyone call us that?" I heard Raphael hiss, making me smile.

"We are eating the red velvet, Ethan. How about you come say hello before they have to leave soon?" Matilda offered, disappearing back into the dining room as the two brothers looked to me.

"You aren't leaving with them, are you?" Vulcan asked, a certain sadness in his voice. "We never got to blow up shit like we planned. Damn, hoes ain't loyal."

I frowned, giving his hand a squeeze. "I'm sorry, but I'm going back with them. This was just a quick visit to see all of you."

Ethan wrinkled his nose as he shook his head. "Dammit, now I'm going to go eat all of that cake to cope. Thank you, you bitch!" He marched down the hallway towards the kitchen, making me smile softly. He was going to miss me, but he wouldn't admit it. Ethan had a funny way of showing it.

Vulcan and I followed in his footsteps as we stood in between the doorways leading to the kitchen where Ethan was already fork deep in his chocolate cake and the dining room where the others sat. Vulcan peered at them with interest, offering a wave.

"Wow, how's it going friends of Kate? Been treating my girl real nice, have you?" He looped an arm over my shoulder as I glared at him. Cybele about choked on her cake as Finn dropped his fork, making my cheeks feel warm.

Matilda laughed, "she isn't your girl, Vulcan. Good try."

"We've had good times." He shrugged, giving me a smile.

"Yes, plenty. Remove your hand." I said and he listens with a playful smile.

"Remember when we had to walk through that storm drain and you stripped down into your..."

"Haha! So. Funny." I elbowed him hard in the ribs before retreating into the kitchen with my face on fire.

"Right! Sorry! Didn't mean to embarrass you with Leighton!" Vulcan called and I about tripped and hit the countertop.

I couldn't imagine what was going on inside Finn's head right now. Shit! I was hoping that Matilda would work some good magic, but who the hell knew? It was time to ignore.

"You can eat some of my cake." Ethan offered, extending a second fork. "It's a hell of a good chocolate cake."

I smiled, "thank you so much, but I think I'll just get my red velvet over there by the..."

"Oh, thank Fates! I was hoping you'd say no, but I was just being gentlemanly-like." He took a big bite, giving a satisfied groan. "Heaven's angel! I'm going to get a boner."

"And I'm leaving!" I announced before retrieving the cake I'd left by the hallway, daring to step into the dining room as I leaned against the door frame. They were back to conversation, Vulcan diving into some dramatic tale about how the two of us had pulled off a train robbery.

"And then, Kate Stratton appears out of thin air and knocks the man unconscious with a shovel!" He said, reenacting the scene himself by pretending to swing. "Batter, batter, swing! Home run, bang! And he was out cold just like that! I mean, I'd done a number on him myself before she'd gotten to him."

"She is very slow." Raphael added with a head nod.

"You were drunk and telling me how pretty the fairies were flying around my head. You definitely did a number on the guy by telling me he was a runway model from Pugnam." I glanced up at Vulcan with a smug smile as he gave a fake laugh before subtly flipping me off. "Ouch, hothead." I giggled as he rolled his eyes before jumping into another story about how he could really kick ass and was very, very straight. Like a pole, a pencil, a ruler.

"Isn't this an adorable, little gathering?" Leighton's voice made my fork scratch against my plate as I turned my head. Everyone went silent once again as he emerged from the hallway, coming to stand particularly close to me. "I see you listened very carefully to my directions, Kate. As you always do."

I took a bite of cake with a shrug. "I almost took you for a liar."

"It's never been a part of my charm, don't you recall?" His green eyes fell onto the guardians as I avoided Finn's eyes like he was Medusa. "Hm, I see one familiar face. How are you doing, Butterfly? Remember when I tackled you to the ground that one time? What a thrill!"

"Remember when I almost killed you afterwards? Equally as fun."

This made Leighton chuckled as he looked to me, and I met his gaze without fear. He didn't intimidate me anymore. "Well,"

I took a step off the wall a little faster than he expected, making him jump in surprise. "Well, I won't intrude. I'm going to head to bed." Leighton finished, giving me a frown. "Goodnight, Kate. And others."

I shrugged, looking back to my cake as I took a bite. Vulcan, trying to liven the mood, said with a chuckle, "we were just talking about that day in the storm drain! Remember that?"

My eyes met his as I gave him a glare, Leighton clearing his throat as I looked to him. He scanned my body with those deep, green eyes from my face all the way to my toes before back up again very closely. "How could I forget that?"

A screeching noise made me jump as I saw the entire dining table shudder and creak as it moved a few inches across the floor. I looked to Leighton, giving him a sarcastic wave. "Nighty night!"

He gave me a signature eye roll before shuffling back towards the staircase. I listened to each footstep before he was completely out of earshot. Couldn't a tornado just suck me up into the sky so I could be out of this situation?

"Who wants more cake?" Matilda asked with a smile, trying to lighten up the tense atmosphere in the room. Or maybe it was only tense to me.

"Did I hear that you knocked Big Nose out in the pub today?" Ethan's voice echoed from behind me as I looked over my shoulder. "Someone told me some crazy woman took a swing at him, and that's usually codename for you, honey."

I grinned, "oh yes I did. He was already pretty beaten up. Someone beat me to the nose job."

"Ha, that was me!" Malaki laughed and I looked to him with a smile. "You knocked him out too? I'm so proud!"

"I gave him the original nose job! None of you can take that away from me!" Vulcan announced to the room. "It was permanent too! It's been crooked since the night I hit that dumbass first in the..."

Malaki gave me a hard high five as he went into the kitchen to fill up his empty plate. "We have chocolate cake?"

Ethan about spit out his forkful as he whipped around to run back into the kitchen. "No! I will murder you if you take one bite and get your germs all over it!"

"Maybe Warren will have brain damage." Vulcan mused as he gave me a soft punch on the shoulder. "Look at you growing up. You started with a pool stick and now you're here!"

"Yes, a pool stick." I mused with a smile, taking a shy glance at Finn. He'd stiffen at my words, glancing up to me as he placed a finger over his lips. I couldn't help but smile.

"I mean, how could you do damage with something like that? The only thing you could hurt with one of those would be... I don't know a butterfly? Weak!" Vulcan shrugged as he walked into the kitchen. Finn's eyes bore up into mine and I gave him a wink.

"Do not stab me with your fork, Ethan! Do. Not." I heard Malaki arguing as the sound of dropped silverware hit the ground along with some broken glass.

"Children, please! Get your hands off of him, Ethan!" Vulcan intervened, making me smile as I looked up to Matilda.

"Are you going to go help your man, Sis?"

Matilda let out a sigh, eating a big piece of her cake as she leaned back into her seat. "I think he can handle this one on his own."

"Wait, you..." Raphael pointed at Matilda before pointing in the direction of the kitchen, "and him?"

"Not the one with the chocolate cake fetish." Matilda clarified as Raphael nodded before eating a piece of red velvet.

"There we go. Now it makes more sense. That threw me for a loop." He folded his napkin before looking around the table. "Well, this has been fun, but the sun is setting and..."

"We know, Raphael." Cybele replied as she finished her piece of cake. "We will be in the air before the sun is down."

"You're leaving tonight?" Matilda asked with wide eyes, but she was interrupted as Ethan walked into the dining room with Vulcan on one side and Malaki scurrying by on the other.

Malaki took a seat beside Matilda, "that was the scariest encounter over food I've had in my life."

"It has come to my attention that none of you know that this cake, this beautiful, juicy, and round chocolate cake, is my cake, and only my cake!" Ethan's voice boomed, his expression stormy like his eyes and blue hair. "None of you shall touch, lick or think about this cake or so help you Fate, you may or may not be stabbed in the hand with multiple dining utensils, and I will enjoy it! I worked too damn hard for this cake..."

"You stole it off an old lady's front porch."

Ethan glared, "you know that Mrs. Calvin is the meanest old lady ever! She said my blue hair made me look like I was a fat blueberry! Fat, Vulcan! She called me fat!"

"I thought she called you a bottle of Dawn dish detergent..."

"Besides the point! Her cake deserved to be stolen because she offended me as a man! So, therefore I took this cake as tribute!"

Malaki rolled his eyes, "congratulations, Katniss Everdeen. Go eat your cake in peace or whatever the hell else you plan to do with it."

"I will love it tenderly until the last bite. Goodnight, you filthy, backstabbing cake murderers! I don't know how you sleep at night."

Malaki only shrugged, "pretty damn well." He winked at Matilda, making her blush.

"You disgust me." Ethan shook his head as he took a bite of his cake, a deep groan coming from his lips. "Oh, but you do not!"

Raphael leaned over towards Finn. "Is it just me, or is he getting a little too... intense with his cake?"

"Just ignore it. He hasn't had sex in a while." Malaki mused.

Vulcan lifted a hand with a smile. "Talk to Rachel!"